Sacramento State rounded out their road trip with two games within three nights against Northern Colorado Thursday and Northern Arizona Saturday, coming up short in both matchups.
Despite the tough losses, sophomore outside hitter Victoria Marthaler continued her outstanding season, tallying a career-high 33 kills in the second game, the most by a Hornet since 2007.
One of the top performances in school history by Marthaler at NAU!
• Career-high 33 kills
• Most kills by a Hornet in 17 years (34 by Missie Stidham in 2007)
• 18 more kills than any other player in the match
• T-7th most kills in school history
• 5+ kills in every set pic.twitter.com/9G7UtCx69r— Sacramento State Volleyball (@SacStateVB) October 11, 2025
The first game versus the UNC Bears was a rematch of last year’s Big Sky Tournament Championship in which the Hornets won. Neither team wasted time settling in, as set one got out to a fast start with both teams trading runs.
The Hornets got out to a 4-1 lead, but the Bears came back to make it 6-5. Sac State newcomers, freshman outside hitter Keonahi’ilani Solaita and Marthaler, accounted for six of the next nine points to re-take the lead, 14-12. The Bears went on a 7-0 run, fueled by three Hornet errors, to make it 19-14 and closed it out 25-18.
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Set two was much of the same, but this time after being down 17-14, the Hornets came back to win the set 25-20. The comeback was sparked by an 11-4 run, led by 6 combined kills from Marthaler, Solaita and senior middle blocker Ashlynn Archer.
Sets three and four were dominated by Northern Colorado. In set three, the Bears outperformed the Hornets in kills 17-5 while holding them to a .000 hitting percentage, winning the set 25-14. In set four, the Hornets kept it close until 18-17, when the Bears finished off Sac State on a 7-4 run and clinched the game 3 sets to 1.
Some highlights from last Thursday’s @SacStateVB game vs. @UNC_BearsVB pic.twitter.com/7gFGrpksOX
— Alex Grado (@AGknwID) October 14, 2025
The Hornets’ head coach Ruben Volta alluded to two things he felt the team could clean up.
“Serving and passing,” Volta said. “Every team plays better at home, so you’ve got to match that.”
In the last leg of the three-game road trip, the Hornets faced off against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, whom they had previously won their last six games against, dating back to Nov. 2021. The game was an absolute dogfight, needing the full five sets to determine a winner.
The Hornets finished with the advantage in kills, assists and digs but also led in errors. Five Hornets set their career-highs, starting with Marthaler’s MVP-worthy performance. She posted the seventh-highest kills in a game in Sac State history with 33.
Senior setter Kate Doorn also tied her career-high with 56 assists, sophomore middle blocker Skyler Gartin had a career-high 12 kills, Solaita had a career-high 15 digs and freshman defensive specialist Amy Ito had 8 digs.
Set one was a battle, with neither team going ahead by more than three. All tied up at 16, the Lumberjacks went on a 5-0 run to take the lead 21-16 and never looked back, winning 25-20.
The Hornets responded in set two, jumping out to a quick 10-4 lead. The Lumberjacks kept it close, tying the score at 20, but the Hornets finished the set on a 5-1 run led by Marthaler, Archer and Doorn.
Set three was the culmination of a tightly-contested game. The game was tied 11 different times, and the Hornets pushed the Lumberjacks past the 25th point, as neither team could trigger the “win by two” rule.
Down 21-19, Sac State went on a timely 4-0 run to take the lead 22-21. After a NAU score, the Hornets went up 24-22 with Archer and Marthaler scoring five out of six points. On the brink, the Lumberjacks ripped off three straight points and ended with a 6-2 run, taking the set 28-26.
here was @SacStateVB making a 5-1 run vs. @NAUAthletics in a hard fought game that saw NAU win in 5 sets pic.twitter.com/DthVQq7dVD
— Alex Grado (@AGknwID) October 14, 2025
“We did have a set get away from us,” Volta said. “We had the late lead, and – credit to NAU – they played really well, but so did we.”
Sac State let out any frustrations they may have had, as they jumped out to a 17-3 lead in the fourth set, with six different Hornets scoring. The Lumberjacks made their way back, cutting the deficit to five, 20-15. The Hornets cruised to close the set 25-20, forcing a fifth set.
In the decisive fifth set, which only goes to 15 points, the Lumberjacks responded after a disappointing fourth set. The Lumberjacks took a 12-7 lead and held all the momentum.
After a Sac State timeout, the Hornets responded with a 5-0 run to tie it at 12. NAU answered back, ending the game on a 3-1 run to win the set 15-13 and win the game 3-2.
highlights from that 5th set: pic.twitter.com/xhW2Jo0PRO
— Alex Grado (@AGknwID) October 14, 2025
The Hornets will be back at home for the next four games, starting Thursday against Montana at 7 p.m. Sac State has a 4-3 record at home compared to 2-5 on the road, and no one values the chance to reset back at The Nest more than Coach Volta.
“I’m looking forward to being home for a couple matches and seeing if we can play a little steady,” Volta said. “[We] just need to have a higher level of play for a longer period of time.”
